In From the Cold
by JMNY8
Summary: The re-appearance of everyone's favorite assassin threatens to uncover the fact that Jack is alive. Post-Day 4 AU
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing from 24

They had agreed not to go back in, but they were familiar with the hostile who was currently evading authorities. They argued for just a minute after she got the call. He knew it was useless before he began, so he gave up quickly and begrudgingly followed his wife to the car. Tony and Michelle had to go back into CTU one more time.

By the time they arrived, CTU teams had cornered the hostile in a warehouse in an industrial center. Bill Buchanan greeted them as they joined him on the floor.

"Looks like we may not need you two after all. We caught sight of her entering the warehouse five minutes ago. Teams are preparing to move in."

Tony surveyed the schematics and the footage that had been recorded on a nearby security camera. On it, the hostile walked out of the adjacent warehouse, did a quick sweep around her, and made haste to the next building.

"Bill, something's not right here. This building has only two areas to escape from, and she knows the camera's there. She's a professional. You know about as well as I do that she knows what's she's doing."

Bill had acquired a great deal of respect for Tony since they first met, but the evidence seemed clear. This woman was on the run, frantic and trying to hide. She made a mistake. He ordered the teams to move in and capture her.

"She messed up. They all do it sooner or later, Tony. Don't let it get personal."

Tony clenched his jaw at the insinuation. "It's not personal. I know how she thinks better than you do, Bill. She doesn't make mistakes, trust me."

During their argument, the first agents had crossed the perimeter. Suddenly the building went up in a huge ball of fire. The agents scrambled around, trying to get safe, trying to take stock of their teams. The team leader and four other agents were dead, almost half of those that remained were in need of medical attention. The perimeter was gone and the hostile had slipped through their fingers once again. They didn't even consider the possibility that she was still in the building this time. She would have slipped out long before she was in any danger, before they even got there.

Tony tried not to glare at Bill for ignoring his warnings. Instead he turned to his wife with a different look in his eyes- remorse, determination, pleading to understand. She met his eyes briefly and looked down, accepting their fate. It was naïve of them to think that they could just swing into CTU for a few minutes. Tony was about to follow Curtis into the field while Michelle had to stay here and hope he came back in one piece.

"Be safe." She whispered, grabbing his hand. "Please."

The way her voice broke on that last word almost shattered Tony's resolve to capture the hostile.

"I love you."

Once he was out the door and out of eyesight, Michelle snapped back into CTU mode.

"Bill, where did this intel come from?"

Bill was juggling several things at once, advising current and incoming TAC teams while trying to get a trace on the hostile again. He didn't have time to walk Michelle through everything, but knew she'd understand his impatience.

"Source that Chloe found. Agent Rook, Curtis and Tony are about fifteen out, prepare to redeploy under their command." Bill continued offering direction while Michelle slipped away to get a better handle on the whole situation.

Michelle made her way to Chloe's station unnoticed by the other woman due to her heavy workload.

"Chloe."

Her eyes snapped up and widened. "Michelle!" Chloe continued though her eyes were focused on her screen. "I heard you were coming in. That's good. Though I guess not for you, with what happened last time and everything." No one had forgotten her screams when she thought Tony had been blown up. Michelle took a deep breath, remembering what working with Chloe was like- she was by far the best, but sometimes it would be nice if she knew when to stop talking.

"I want to get a better handle on the situation. Where did the original intel come from?"

This got her attention in a way that made Michelle uncomfortable. Chloe glanced at Edgar, who was sitting at a nearby terminal within earshot. She looked back at Michelle. "Anonymous source."

Her breath hitched. CTU didn't act solely on anonymous sources. Chloe certainly wouldn't have passed it along unless she was relatively certain. And there was really only one person who Chloe trusted enough to warrant these actions.

Her voice lowered, trying not to attract Edgar's attention.

"Do we have a situation?"

The frightened look on Chloe's face was all the answer she needed. She nodded at Chloe and wandered toward the bathroom. Once inside, she pulled out her cell phone. It may have been a while since she worked at CTU, but she still remembered how to get things under the radar.

"Tony, it's me."

"Sweetheart we're still a few minutes out. How are things on your end?"

Michelle paused just a bit too long.

"Michelle? What is it?" His voice had lowered slightly. She heard enough muffled noise in the background to know that he wasn't in a position to talk freely.

"The hostile- she may have ties to the Lincoln op."

Michelle recognized Tony's sharp intake of breath as his way of suppressing a curse or three. Things had just gotten very complicated.

"Confirmed?"

"You know I can't do that. Look, Tony, the way I see it, this doesn't affect the retrieval. Once we get her… That's when damage control starts. We need to find out what she knows before she can get into formal interrogation"

"How is this going to work?"

"I have an idea, but you probably won't like it."

Tony knew where she was going before she was finished with the sentence.

"It's not up to us, Michelle."

"I'll put it off, but think about it Tony, we have to bring Bill into this so that we can stop it from going further. We can trust him."

Tony's voice dropped down to a hiss. "We're not the ones who have to deal with the consequences. Please, just wait until I'm back. I don't-" Tony couldn't say much else without giving himself away to Curtis. "I'll see you soon, sweetheart."

Michelle snapped her phone closed, frustrated and upset. She knew that Tony was right, but she couldn't see another way to protect their friend.

She walked back to the floor and accepted a status report from Edgar. It contained all of the official information so far- satellite images and security cameras confirmed that a known hostile had been spotted outside of LA. Reading between the lines, Michelle saw that there was no reason for the satellites to be pointing there, or for anyone to look at these specific security cameras. Chloe was good at covering her tracks, but too much scrutiny would cause questions. She finished reviewing the file and jumped in with Bill on the floor, offering assistance and direction where she could.

When Tony arrived on scene, he immediately spotted a building about a block away with a good vantage point of this entrance. It would have been easy for the hostile to sneak out one of the windows on the other side of the rigged building and avoid security cameras far enough to get onto that second floor undetected. He relayed his hunch to Curtis, and together they redeployed the TAC teams.

Tony's hunch panned out, and the hostile's building was surrounded. A surveillance team confirmed she was in there, and they got ready to breach the door. While they were still setting up, there was movement from the door they were planning on going in through. One hand appeared holding a gun, followed by its empty counterpart. The hostile's head and body followed as she stiffly walked out, arms held up. She leaned down to drop the gun and kicked it away. She turned, got down on her knees, and put her hands behind her head, all without being prompted.

"I want to come in. I want a deal." She shouted over her shoulder.

Tony didn't like this- Mandy clearly had something up her sleeve.

Curtis had Tony lead the retreat while he took the hostile in- he didn't like the thought of making Tony responsible for his former captor. Tony was uncomfortable being separated from Mandy, knowing that she had dangerous information, but he didn't want to draw attention to himself. He was about five minutes behind Curtis as they headed back to CTU.

Michelle pulled Chloe aside after they got word that the hostile was being brought in.

"I need you to make sure that there are no eyes or ears on the interrogation suite."

"There'll be a tech-"

"I'll get rid of him. Just take care of your end, and as soon as Tony comes in send him to interrogation."

"But what about-"

"Just do it, Chloe!"

"Okay, okay. Eyes and ears are down. She's on her way through security now."

They both turned to see the young woman being led in chains. She seemed comfortable with both the restraints and the attention she was getting. Her eyes met Michelle's and she smirked slightly in recognition. Michelle's old hatred of this woman who had held her husband ransom emerged, but subsided when she remembered she had a job to do.

She saw Bill leading Mandy into the interrogation room, and made haste to the attached observation room with the intent of interfering with the interrogation. Through the glass, she saw two security guards chaining Mandy to the chair.

"You." She addressed the tech monitoring the interrogation feed "Out, now."

He gave her a confused look, knowing she no longer worked with CTU, but obeyed her instructions anyway. Michelle Dessler still held a lot of respect here as well as the full support of Bill Buchanan. The tech left without a word.

The security guards had left and Bill turned back to Mandy. Before he could open his mouth, she spoke.

"I want a deal. But I will only speak to Jack Bauer."

Michelle's blood ran cold. She had hoped to get Bill out of the room before Mandy could reveal too much, but they were a dozen words in and she was too late. Just then, Tony stormed in. He stopped when he caught sight of his wife with her hand on the handle of the interrogation room door, frozen.

"Jack Bauer is dead." Bill's flat voice carried into the observation room. Tony glanced around briefly to make sure the interrogation wasn't monitored.

Mandy turned her head slightly to the right so that she was staring intensely at Bill out of the corner of her eye.

"You really do believe that, don't you?"


	2. Chapter 2

Moving his wife aside, Tony burst through the interrogation room door. Mandy smirked as her eyes raked down him appreciatively.

"Good to see you again, Tony."

He ignored her and pulled Bill into the observation room. "Bill, you need to stop this interrogation _now_."

"What the hell is going on here, Tony?"

"I can't get into that right now. All that matters for the time being is that you let me in there to interrogate her, and keep it off the books."

"Listen Tony, if this is about revenge or anything of the sort, you are way out of line. Besides that, I think she's insane."

Tony and Michelle, who had been trying to block Bill from either door, paused. Michelle looked at Tony, who was sizing up Bill. He looked back at his wife and nodded.

"Bill, she's not insane. At least, not about this." Michelle had grabbed Bill's arm and guided him to the tech's chair. "Jack's alive."

"What the hell are you talking about? I was there when he died. So were you, you saw what happened."

Tony gave Bill a quick run-down of finding out Secret Service's orders, reviving Jack and getting him out of the city. He skimmed over the roles Chloe and President Palmer had played- as far as he was concerned, any details were need to know. He didn't even like the thought of bringing Bill in this far, but it was either Bill or everyone at Division. As hard as it was to keep a secret between 6 people, it would be a lot harder with 600.

After he got through the story, Tony gave Bill a moment to adjust to the thought of Jack being alive again. He could understand how difficult this must be- they'd both been pallbearers at his funeral just 8 months ago.

While they were waiting for Bill to say something, Mandy got bored.

"There's a shooting range 20 miles East of San Diego. Ask for someone there named Colin."

Neither Tony nor Michelle knew anything about Jack's current identity- they weren't the only ones who believed in need to know. "Confirm the ID."

Michelle left to talk to Chloe. As she was walking out of the room, Bill realized that she was going to talk to someone else inside CTU. After a few seconds silence, he found his voice again.

"Just how deep does this thing go, Tony?"

In answer to his question, Michelle burst back inside with Chloe. Bill couldn't say he was surprised that she was involved. She had been there when Jack supposedly died, but it was her unwavering loyalty to Jack that made her an obvious choice.

"Confirmed the ID."

"Chloe, catch us up to speed on the intel Jack provided you." Michelle wanted to know what the connection was between Mandy and Jack.

"It wasn't much- he called two days ago and said he caught sight of Mandy in a small town outside San Diego. I checked satellites and security feeds to confirm, and passed it up. That was all I heard from Jack."

It wouldn't be long now before someone needed Bill's okay on something, or Curtis would want to interrogate the hostile. They needed to figure this out, fast.

"I'll only talk to Bauer." Mandy seemed unwilling to be ignored. "But you'll want to hurry if you want to stop them."

Bill snapped into action, directing the group around.

"Tony, you see if you can get anything from the hostile. We have no idea what to stop, but I don't think she knows that. See what you can get. Chloe, I want you to get your team checking chatter for upcoming attacks or activity, and center your search on the San Diego area. Michelle, I want you to contact Jack with me now. I'll secure a line in my office."

As they split up to follow their orders, Michelle questioned Bill on their way to his office.

"Are you going to ask him to come in? If he steps foot anywhere near here he will be back on the radar and he and his family will be at risk." Her insistent tone was somewhat dulled by the whisper she had to use walking through the busy floor area.

Bill kept his mouth shut until they reached his office.

"I'm going to figure out what the whole situation is before I decide on anything. If I need to bring Jack in to prevent an attack, I'll do it. The Jack I remember would have wanted me to."

Michelle had to surrender to his reasoning, but hoped it wouldn't come to that. Bill set up a secure line and Michelle dialed the number. Two rings and five seconds of muffled noises as Jack moved somewhere quiet were followed by a gruff "Yes?"

"Jack, it's Michelle. I've got Bill here, we had to bring him in to contain the hostile from leaking this further."

"Jack, I need to know what your connection is with this hostile, and what attack she's talking about."

"What? I don't have a connection with her. She spotted me outside of San Diego, I saw her escaping and called it in to Chloe. I don't-"

They could practically hear the cogs in Jack's head turning over the phone.

"I might have an idea about a connection. There's an arms group based around here. An old contact of mine is involved with them, I've been using him for supplies and papers for the last three weeks. He's been getting pretty busy with them lately. Worth looking into. Has the hostile said anything?"

"Jack, she said she's willing to talk, but only to you. I think it's likely that she knows your connection with the crew."

"What are you suggesting, Bill? That I come in to CTU and interrogate her?"

Michelle stepped in to compromise. "Jack, Bill, is there any chance we could secure an offsite location for Jack to do the interrogation."

Bill looked skeptical, but Jack had a suggestion within seconds.

"We could transfer her to a Class 3 Detention Facility- a prison that doesn't exist."

Bill's skepticism didn't subside.

"Jack, how are we supposed to pull that off? That needs DOD authorization; I can't get that without raising flags."

"David Palmer. Call me once you have a location." When the line went dead, Michelle jumped in to get the next call ready.

"Bill, I need you to set up the secure channel."

Bill shook the shock out of his head and started to get to work.

"I know that this is all a bit surreal."

"Michelle, I'm asking a former US President to move a pardoned terrorist to a prison that doesn't exist so she can be interrogated by a dead man. We passed surreal quite a while ago." Bill shook the shock from his head and got to work contacting Palmer.

"President Palmer, this is Bill Buchanan at CTU. Is this a secure line?"

"Yes, Bill, what can I do for you?"

"I'm here with Michelle Dessler."

Michelle took over the conversation. "Mr. President, we've brought Bill into the Lincoln Operation."

The two at CTU could read the concern in Palmer's pause. "Why exactly?"

"To prevent a larger breach. Sir, we believe we have a situation arising." She looked at Bill, unsure of how to broach the subject of the President's attempted assassination. "You remember Mandy, the hostile from just before the last time we spoke."

"I'm not likely to forget that particular assassin, Ms. Dessler. If I remember correctly we had her extradited to North Africa."

Bill stepped in to the brief. "Apparently it didn't take. Sir, our TAC teams cornered her in a warehouse thirty-five miles outside of LA today. She gave herself up after a failed escape attempt, but when we brought her in she said she would only talk to Jack Bauer. She seems to have spotted him recently."

"I don't like this, Bill."

"Nor do I, Mr. President, but I'm afraid that's not our biggest issue. Mandy claims to have information about an imminent attack, but she will only speak to Jack. We have nothing to verify this claim yet, but we don't want to bring Jack into CTU at this time."

"What can I do to help, Bill?"

"Mr. President, Jack suggested we move Mandy to a Class 3 Detention facility so we could speak to her covertly. We don't have the DOD clearances to get her in on our own."

The President sighed.

"The closest facility to you would be Saugus. Jack knows where it is. I'll make some calls and get back to you. Please let me know if you learn anything else in the meantime. I don't want to take any chances with this threat. If it turns out to be real, you'll need to bring in official channels immediately." His voice grew somber. "Even if it means bringing Jack back in."


	3. Chapter 3

Tony and Mandy sat silently across from each other in the back of the CTU prisoner transport, eyeing each other warily. Mandy's stare was as cold and calculating as always, and Tony couldn't help but wonder if she was still trying to find a way out of this. It didn't matter how docile she appeared- he knew better than to let his guard down around her even for one second. Tony was great at what he did, but he had to admit that Mandy was one of the most formidable opponents he'd ever met. It's difficult going up against someone who has nothing to lose, a complete psychopath with no regard for anyone or anything but herself. On top of that, she had proven time and time again her intelligence and cunning. She was a master of evasion and escape, and fearless to boot. Tony was tough, but he knew well enough to be intimidated by the petite young woman before him.

Mandy was quick to pick out people's weaknesses, as she proved when she held Tony ransom for her escape. Right now, Bauer's weakness was that she knew he was alive. All she had to do know was figure out how to use that fact from her containment.

She knew of one more vulnerability in Bauer- a quick glance at his history showcased his hero complex as though it were a neon sign over his head. If he thought that a single innocent person might be in danger, he would likely jump in head first. That had to be her way in- and it was true, there were many innocent lives at risk right now. Once she leveraged that information, she could be in a position to threaten Bauer's anonymity and earn her freedom once again. From that point, she could get back to business as usual, without any of her clients needing to find out that she'd turned in information. She had a reputation to keep, after all. With this resolved, Mandy kept her mouth shut during the drive, waiting for her meeting with Bauer.

Walking though the wooded area, Jack was brought back to the day his wife and daughter were kidnapped. Last time he was here was with George Mason, who was now deceased. In fact, all of the guards and laborers on premises that night were killed. Memories like those told Jack that he was making the right decision by faking his death- some days it seemed like everything he touched turned to ash. Jack had to sneak around the same path he took last time for fear of the cameras at the hidden gate entrance getting a look at him. After a good hike, he found himself at the stairs leading into the facility. He had 5 minutes before their rendezvous time, just enough time to get an interrogation room set up and off camera. The hallways were all on a closed circuit channel that was inaccessible from the outside- Chloe could come in later to sweep him from their system. The rooms were a different story. They were connected to outside feeds so agencies could get intelligence fed to them quickly.

Jack knocked three times on the door. Fortunately he didn't have to go through the disorienting lights and noises routine as they were expecting him. As soon as he stepped inside, he could tell that they learned their lesson from last time around. There were two guards at the door, and one posted at each hallway junction he could see- 5 in total. As one of the maintenance workers passed by, Jack could tell that the burly man could hold his own- likely weapons trained as well. Either his prisoner was getting special treatment- unlikely considering the short notice- or Drazen's escape encouraged them to take Jack's advice and shape up their security.

Jack turned toward the warden, a younger man with bright blonde hair. He reached out to shake his hand, polite and professional as always.

"Colin Anderson."

"Jacob Lorne. We have a room set aside for your interrogation." Jacob seemed a no-nonsense sort of man- the type used to getting things done swiftly and accurately. He led Jack a short way down the hall, straight for a door on the right.

Jack stopped them before they got to the door. "Are the cameras off in here?"

Jacob stopped, giving Jack a quirked eyebrow. "This is a class three detention center; no one sees the feed unless they're authorized."

That wasn't enough to placate Jack. "I need all feeds turned off. There's no one authorized who won't be in that room."

"I'm sorry sir, but it's against protocol to shut the cameras off. The best I can do is have it switched to our closed circuit system."

Jack paused, thinking. "Who has the authority to call off a protocol?" David Palmer could get the cooperation of a lot of people without them asking too many questions- hopefully he had the pull to make this happen.

"It would have to come straight from the Secretary of Defense or President Logan himself."

Those were both completely out of the question. Informing Logan would bring them back to square one as far as Jack's anonymity was concerned, and Secretary Heller couldn't be put in that position. Not only would it put him in danger, but he would be stuck trying to keep it from Audrey, and Jack couldn't bear to put him in that position. As long as no one was monitoring the closed feed, they should be able to wipe it before anyone else learned of Jack's continued existence.

"All right. Move it to your system, but I need the audio off for the duration of the interrogation."

Jacob had been concerned that the intimidating-looking man before him wanted to use enhanced interrogation techniques. Even though this prison didn't officially exist, they didn't utilize torture in the facility. Jack allowing video but no audio said otherwise- they were merely dealing with sensitive information. They had authorized these types of interrogations before, but the people they sent usually had credentials, unlike this man. Jacob could also tell that his name wasn't actually Colin. His short time in Special Forces taught him to recognize when someone felt uncomfortable with a name, and this man felt uncomfortable with his own. Jacob would have probed him further to make sure he wasn't an imposter, but the authorization notice included pictures of all three people coming in- though this man was thinner than his picture, with slightly more ragged hair than the military-perfect cut he used to wear. This man was expected, and clearly had other reasons for keeping himself off the radar. Since the authorization came directly from his boss's boss's boss, Jacob knew better than to question it.

While Jacob switched the camera profiles, Jack paced outside the room until it was declared clean- absolutely no transmissions going to the outside world. Once the room was ready, Jack got to work. The table and chairs were rearranged so the prisoner would be forced to have her back to the door. Jack set up chains so the prisoner could be shackled into the chair upon arrival. Clearly, he was taking absolutely no chances with the prisoner. Jacob watched from the control room as Jack double checked everything from the distance between the door and chair to the strength of the chains. By the time he was finished, an alarm chirped from the gate. The prisoner and her escort were here. Jacob switched over to the camera feed coming in from the gate. A well-built man stepped out with military swiftness and stature before he forcefully yanked the prisoner out of the truck. The prisoner glared at the man before she looked straight into the camera and smirked. Jacob bit back a gasp- the video feed was showing what her picture didn't. This woman had pure ice in her veins. He had wondered what such a sweet-looking girl could have done to warrant a visit to their facility, but now he could see what she was capable of shining in her eyes. This woman could kill a man with her bare hands and sleep easy that night. Jacob had seen eyes like that before, eyes of warlords and assassins. He had met men and women with the same look in their eyes but none who looked so… harmless. At first glance, this woman looked like she belonged on a yacht as some rich bastard's trophy wife, or out at a club drinking martinis and flirting with strangers. Those images melted away as soon as he saw her eyes taunting him through the camera. Jacob wasn't even her intended target, but he still got chills. He could only hope that 'Colin' knew what he was doing.


	4. Chapter 4

Jack didn't raise his head as the door opened and slammed shut. Tony sat Mandy down in the chair and started work on the chains. The clanging of the metal was the only sound in the room. By the time Tony double checked the chains and positioned himself by the door, Jack hadn't moved a muscle. Mandy's smirk was muted but still present as she settled in, steeling herself for the interrogation.

In her line of work, she knew the odds were high of ending up in a room like this sooner or later. She had prepared for this moment since she ran away from home at age thirteen, knowing her actions would catch up with her sooner or later. She always thought- maybe even hoped- she would be killed before she was ever captured. At least she was sure to get insurance wherever she went. She knew Jack Bauer wouldn't risk the deaths of innocents just to imprison her. She could get out of this once again without risking her life or reputation. Last time they crossed paths, she was sure that word wouldn't get out that she gave intelligence to authorities- she knew Marwan would be dead before he could figure out it was her that sold him out. Maintaining her reputation was crucial in keeping up business- no one wants to work with a rat.

Three minutes had passed, and no one had moved. Jack was still staring at his hands, Tony was by the door, and Mandy had all the patience in the world. As long as she knew she would get out eventually, she could bide her time in these shackles.

At the same time, Tony and Jack moved. Tony stepped closer to the table just as Jack looked up at Mandy. She remembered those eyes from the first time he captured her- the first time she had ever been captured.

"_Do you really have what it takes to let me kill him while you're lookin' him in the eye?"_

"_Yeah."_

She knew he was every bit as cold and ruthless as she was. It shone in those eyes. He was a professional- he could have gone far in her world. He was the type to smile at someone one second and stab them in the back the next, without hesitation. She didn't need to read up on him to know that, though she did anyway. It was all in there in his eyes.

"Start talking."

Good- he wasn't being specific. Over the years, Mandy had learned more than just infiltration and assassination- she could probe and manipulate, search out weak spots and how to use them.

"Long before we ever met, I was hired by a man named Ira Gaines."

At this, Jack visibly stiffened. After decades of training and experience, he knew better than to let his emotions show in front of a hostile, but Teri was still a difficult topic.

"Gaines? Who's he?" Tony may have been involved in the affair, but he couldn't be expected to remember every name. Not like Jack, who had memorized every file he could find on the events of that day front and back. Jack, who actually met most of the men behind his wife's abduction and death.

Mandy gave Jack a smug look- right now, he deeply regretted allowing Lorne to keep the cameras on. He would give anything to smack that smirk off of her face. It was what she wanted- they were getting off of the main topic, and Jack was displaying vulnerability.

"We're not here to waste time talking about a dead man." Jack gave Tony a look, subtly asking him to ignore her comment. After working together for so long, Tony trusted that Jack would fill in the missing pieces later. "I'm after more relevant information, and I'm after it now."

Mandy's smirk grew. She knew that Bauer lost his wife that day, and it was clear that it affected him. Maybe he wasn't as cold as she was- she would never let herself care about anyone else that much. It's what made people soft and sloppy.

"It is relevant. Gaines hired me to secure an ID card and take out the man it belonged to."

Something clicked in Jack's mind- he could see where she was going with this.

"You took out the plane that Martin Belkin was on. Did you take out the plane leaving San Diego last week?"

A razor-sharp memory went with that cold demeanor. No wonder people had been afraid of Jack Bauer, he didn't seem to miss a thing. Though she knew that already- he was, after all, the first person to ever capture her, despite her ruses and manipulations. She was a professional- and so was he.

Behind Mandy's back, Tony's eyes widened in recognition as he recalled the plane explosion the night before Teri Bauer was murdered. Memories of that day flooded back as he too made the connection.

"An associate of Gaines recommended me to an organization. That organization hired me to acquire and deliver a briefcase to them and make sure its absence went unnoticed. The briefcase was aboard a plane headed for Washington, DC. It didn't make it."

The best way to cover up a theft was with a mass murder, in Mandy's opinion. It had worked for her before- no one knew that Martin Belkin's ID was missing until it was too late. And now, a week after she stole the briefcase, no one mentioned it was missing. The company it belonged to likely presumed it was destroyed in the crash, which was being blamed on unknown enemies of the country. Mandy did such a good job of it that several extremist groups were fighting over the credit, enough for the real culprits to go unsuspected.

"Who did you deliver it to?"

Mandy's smirk turned into a frown as she glared at Jack.

"Here's how it's going to happen. I tell you how to get to select members of the cell. You infiltrate them and get the location of all of their members, and take them all out, stopping them from pulling off their plan. Then I get on a plane back to North Africa and we all go on with our lives."

The corners of Jack's mouth turned up ever so slightly as he got up and started to pace across the room, resembling a predator stalking its prey. Even for someone with plenty of experience with psychopaths and assassins, Jack found Mandy unnerving.

"I think that this is how it's going to happen. CTU announces that you turned yourself into our custody as a witness and are cooperating fully before we release you and let your friends take care of the rest."

Mandy hadn't moved a muscle, but her eyes never left Jack. After a minute of her silence, he stood behind the chair across from her and leaned in, lowering his voice.

"You'd be surprised how much you can tell from a dead body. Were they tortured, or just killed straight off? Did they send a professional, or let an amateur get their feet wet?"

Her eyes narrowed as he backed off and started for the door. "Unless you've got something better for us, you'll be stuck in this facility until we get our press release ready."

She held out until he opened the door.

"I know their target. And where their mole is. But I want protection! Or else people might just find out who Colin really is. I know the world thinks you're dead, Jack. Do you want to keep it that way or not?"

Jack already knew he would have to switch identities the second he saw Mandy, but he couldn't afford to have anyone know he was still alive. He could take care of himself, but Kim would be at risk. Putting her in danger was absolutely unacceptable.

He glanced at Tony, and nodded towards the door.

"We'll see what we can do."

Jack followed Tony out into the hallway and shut the door behind him. While Tony waited silently, Jack took a moment to collect his thoughts.

"First of all, the whole Gaines thing-"

"I figured it out, Jack. The name just didn't register at first, but now I remember who he was. I had no idea that Mandy was involved in another attempt on Palmer's life, but I can't say I'm all that surprised. She'll do just about anything for money and freedom."

Jack had to agree- the girl was definitely a ruthless, highly skilled mercenary. She would work with them in exchange for their freedom, but what would stop her from trading on Jack's identity when the opportunity presented itself?

"Tony, I think we're going to have to use official channels for this. Put her in witness protection so we can keep an eye on her and satisfy her demand. But that means I can't be involved further. And first of all, we need Chloe to wipe the security footage. It's on an internal system, but I can't risk it getting out."

Tony was hesitant- and considering his history with Mandy, it was understandable. After seeing her shoot Castle and take him hostage, how could he possibly trust her to keep up her end of the deal? How could he trust her to keep her mouth shut about Jack, or even give them accurate information?

"Jack, I don't like this. We can't trust her, especially since she knows about you."

Kim and Audrey popped into Jack's mind as Tony's words reached him.

"I know, Tony. But I don't know if we have another choice. She's talking about an entire terrorist cell, and we don't know a thing about them."

They were both silent as they struggled to find a way around trusting Mandy. Jack thought back to the day he spotted her at the shooting range- the same range where he met his contact for weapons and papers.

"On second thought, maybe there's someone else who does."


End file.
